CW on 80 metres: 3530 kHz, Morse after dark

What you hear

Keyed Morse notes, as described in the main article, on the band where most of the night-time CW in Europe happens. 3530 kHz is in the lower part of the CW segment, which runs from 3500 to 3570 kHz, and in the evening the segment holds dozens of stations: round tables of regulars, newcomers at ten words a minute, contesters at thirty. Daylight empties it; the band only reaches a few hundred kilometres before sunset.

Who transmits and why

Amateurs who prefer Morse and the low bands, where a wire antenna in the garden works and a contact across Europe takes no special equipment. 80 m is the band of national CW evenings and club nets, and on big contest weekends the whole segment is wall to wall. The lowest few kilohertz, 3500 to 3510, are kept for intercontinental contacts.

When and where to listen

From sunset to sunrise, best from October to March, when nights are long and thunderstorm static is gone. Around midnight and before dawn the far side of the Atlantic comes through to good receivers. Receivers in rural Europe hear the most. The dial is 3530 kHz in CW mode.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → Amateur radio → CW 80 m. The program picks a public receiver covering 3530 kHz, sets the CW mode with a narrow passband and holds the note at the standard pitch; you read the Morse by ear, there is no text decoder for it in the program. No receiver, antenna or account of your own is needed.